It is not an either or question. You can do both , neither , one or any combo. There is a difference in their effects. Feeding I think puts more lbs per cost into BG but not TShad. A good plankton bloom is a must for shad. Excluding the feeder cost IMO they are about the same cost for me (lime + fert = pellets). There are a lot of obvious variables. See this from the archives

http://www.pondboss.com/forums/ubbthread...5b8bf#Post96127